26.2 Pioneers

Kenyan men lead the way to a new age of marathon racing

At the end of 2011, even casual fans couldn't help but notice it'd been a remarkable year at the top tier of men's marathoning. Patrick Makau set a world record of 2:03:38 in Berlin. Geoffrey Mutai shattered the course records in Boston and New York by more than 2 minutes each, while Emmanuel Mutai and an allegedly 85 percent fit Moses Mosop, respectively, set course records in London and Chicago. By the end of the year, Kenyans had won all the World Marathon Majors in new course records, and the slowest of those new marks was Mosop's 2:05:37 in Chicago.

Things were just as mind-blowing outside the World Marathon Majors races. In October, Wilson Kipsang just missed Makau's world record when he won Frankfurt in 2:03:42. Perhaps most staggering is the depth of the performances, and the fact that nearly all of them were run by Kenyans. Kenya's main running rival, Ethiopia, has been largely absent in this new marathon movement. If you set aside record-ineligible Boston, in 2011 Kenyans recorded the 24 fastest marathon times in the world. The fastest time run by a non-Kenyan was Brazil's Marilson dos Santos' 2:06:34 in London, which put him 25th on the list (again, excepting Boston). Bekana Daba was the top Ethiopian, though his 2:07:04 win in Houston ranked a modest 31st.

While a handful of these top marathoners are becoming household names–like world record-holder Makau and Boston and New York champ Mutai–many are unknown even to the nerdiest of running nerds. Athletes like Levy Matebo, who ran 2:05:16 in Frankfurt, and Jafred Kipchumba, who won the lesser-known Eindhoven Marathon in 2:05:48, seem to come out of nowhere.

It's as if the code has been cracked and now anything can happen in the marathon. What used to be the stuff of fantasy–like a sub-2:00 time–is now within the realm of possibility.

IT STARTED WITH SAMMY

Running experts will tell you the floodgates started to open with the late Sammy Wanjiru's Olympic-record run in 2008. With an aggressive racing style more befitting the shorter distances, Wanjiru ran without fear of the fabled wall, surging early and often, bent on breaking his competition. Many consider his gold medal run in Beijing, in sauna-like conditions, the greatest marathon of all time.

Wanjiru finished six marathons and won five in his too-brief career, none slower than his 2:06:39 debut in Fukuoka. It was perhaps his final race in Chicago, however, that solidified his reputation as a tough and courageous runner. Weakened by a stomach virus, Wanjiru entered the race in less than ideal form. His main rival, Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede, recognized the chink in Wanjiru's armor and took advantage, letting loose a barrage of surges in the final miles. Wanjiru looked to be broken, but each time he battled back, and over the last half mile somehow put 19 seconds on Kebede. The race resembled more a prize fight than the marathon's traditional death-by-paper-cut mode. Wanjiru's career trajectory and approach to racing blazed a trail for a new generation of Kenyan runners, who are young, fast and fearless.

ALL THE YOUNG DUDES

The marathon used to be the domain of established superstars, like Haile Gebrselassie and Paul Tergat, who paid their dues on the track and had the resume and credentials to back up their success at the longer distance. Nowadays even an unknown, running his first big race outside of Kenya, can do something special in the marathon. Last year, Kenyan Eric Ndiema, who's listed as 18 years old, ran a 2:06:07 debut in Amsterdam.

Italian coach Renato Canova, who has a hand in many top Kenyans' training and directly oversees Mosop's schedule, says that runners like Ndiema are the future. In the past, he says, "The normal behavior was to wait until the end of the career on the track, moving to the marathon when already old, and no longer able to have the best personal efficiency." He cites Tergat as an example. When, in 2003, Tergat became the first to break 2:05, he was in 27:15 10,000m shape, Canova contends. "How fast could Paul Tergat have run, beginning his specific preparation for the marathon five years before [when he set his 10,000m PR of 26:27]?" Canova asks.

Because Kenyan runners aren't waiting until the twilight of their careers to enter the marathon, Canova says, "The top [marathon] specialists are younger, stronger and faster than the specialists five to seven years ago. They are able to run their best times in shorter distances during the same season as their marathon." This has revolutionized the way runners approach the marathon.

THE SNAKE NO LONGER FEARED

Jimmy Beauttah, better known to Kenyans as Coach Simba, works at Kip Keino's High Performance Training Center in Eldoret. He's been coaching Kenyan runners since the 1970s, and has, in recent years, seen a shift in athletes' attitude towards the marathon. He says, "The late Wanjiru painted a brand new picture in Kenyan marathon running. People are more confident, and do not fear the distance anymore. The marathon is no longer the long snake that people didn't even know where the head was. This enemy is now known."

As the fear of the marathon has lifted, runners are training more effectively for the distance. According to Beauttah, runners now understand that endurance is only one piece of the puzzle, and that speed is absolutely essential.

Canova notes that the training has become far more marathon-specific. For instance, instead of the traditional weekly long run at an easy to moderate effort, today's top marathoners will run 30 to 40K close to marathon pace. For example, before taking second at Boston in his debut, Mosop ran 40K in 2:07; that's the first 25 miles of a 2:14 marathon, in training shoes, at 8,000 feet of altitude. Naturally, this high-intensity workout requires a much longer recovery. Canova says, "During the final period of preparation, [athletes] have one specific training every five to seven days only." Canova's marathoners sometimes do what most people would consider a long run only once or twice a month.

In addition to the high-intensity long run, Canova's marathon-specific training also includes speed endurance workouts, like 7K, then 6K, then 5K, then 4K, then 3K, then 2K, all at marathon pace, alternating with a "recovery" kilometer at 80 percent of marathon pace (read: not jogging). Canova's runners also do large volumes of repeats on the track–up to 20K worth in a session–at faster than marathon pace.

Beauttah believes we've only just cracked the surface of what's possible in the marathon. He predicts that Mutai's and Mosop's 2:03s in Boston were just the beginning. "The wall will go down yet again," he says. There's a palpable energy in Kenya, he says, that "something new is just around the corner."

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Another contributing factor is the increasing scarcity of world-class 10,000m track races. This year there were only three such races for men, including the world championships. In 2010 there was one. With scant opportunity to run 10,000m races, specialists are left with two options: They can either move up in distance and try their hand at the half or full marathon, or they can stick to the track and try to make a living from the shorter distances, namely the 5,000m. As Daba can attest, the track has proven far less lucrative than the marathon. In the summer of 2010, Daba ran 12:58 for 5,000m; that got him ninth in the race and $500 in prize money. Since his travel costs exceeded his winnings, Daba ended up with a net loss. Last January he debuted at the Houston Marathon, won the race in a course record and earned $35,000.

Given the current financial realities of track versus marathon racing, many young runners are bypassing the track altogether for a potential big payoff in the marathon. We're already seeing signs that Kenya is losing a step on the track just as its stock in the marathon is rising. At the world championships, Kenyan men failed to medal in either the 5,000m or 10,000m races. It's likely this trend will continue, since the significant sponsorship dollars lie in the marathon.

WHAT ABOUT THE WOMEN?

For years, one name dominated women's marathoning: Paula Radcliffe. World record-holder, winner in Chicago, three-time champ of London, three-time champ of New York. Since she debuted at the distance in 2002, Radcliffe has been in a league all her own. No other woman has run within 2 ½ minutes of her 2:15:25 world record. Before 2011, the only other woman to break 2:19 was Catherine Ndereba, who ran 2:18:47 more than a decade ago.

While men's marathoning has exploded, the women seem to have stalled. Between 2007 and 2010, only one woman broke 2:20; Irina Mikitenko ran 2:19:19 in Berlin in 2008. Radcliffe was largely out of the picture during this time, due to injuries and motherhood, and women's marathoning looked like it had hit a wall.

Why haven't Kenyan women found the kind of success that Kenyan men have cultivated in the marathon? According to Canova, "[Until] three to four years ago, Kenyan coaches had the idea women had to train 50 to 70 percent of men." He says European coaches challenged this assumption, and enhanced the level of training for women. Beauttah believes many Kenyans underestimate the abilities of female runners, and as a result, women have yet to tap into their full potential.

Last year, however, we witnessed some positive signs in the women's marathon. Mary Keitany won London in 2:19:44, and her compatriot Florence Kiplagat followed up with a 2:19:19 victory in Berlin. In Chicago, Russia's Liliya Shobukhova became the second-fastest woman in history by winning in 2:18:20. And in New York City, Keitany set a blistering early pace before faltering in the final stages. Still, the top three women in New York–Firehiwot Dado, Buzunesh Deba, and Keitany–all ran about 5 minutes faster than the winners of the previous two New York City races.

If women's marathoning follows the same trajectory as the men's, the next few years could prove promising. Not only could we see more women running sub-2:20, but Radcliffe's seemingly untouchable mark of 2:15 could come under assault. Canova believes Radcliffe's third best mark, 2:17:42, will be bettered by the end of 2013. The 2:15 standard will be tougher, but Canova believes this mark could fall by 2014 or 2015, perhaps in Berlin or Chicago, where the courses are flat and fast and men can pace. Beauttah has no doubt that more women can run 2:15. "Ladies are capable of pushing harder," he says. With the exception of Radcliffe, who set the standard for aggressive marathon racing, elite women have mostly approached the distance far more cautiously than the top men. Though Keitany came up short in New York, she's changing the expectations of women runners, and proving that Wanjiru's aggressive style of racing isn't limited to men. If Keitany, Kiplagat, Shobhukhova and others keep pushing the boundaries, we may very well be on the brink of a revolution in the women's marathon to match the one underway on the men's side.